Animals are able to communicate with each other using non-linguistic signals, such as physical appearance, expressions, movements, actions, vocalizations, etc. Although people have developed languages to communicate, they also continue to use non-linguistic signals as well. For instance, when people interact and communicate in a face-to-face manner, each person naturally provides detectable non-linguistic signals or physical clues that enable other people to determine a response, mood, reaction, emotion or other condition of the person with whom they are communicating. People are able to both consciously and subconsciously interpret these non-linguistic signals or “honest signals” as a measure of the communication, and can adjust their interactions accordingly.
On the other hand, during a telecommunication session, videoconference, or other interaction in which participants do not share physical proximity, the participants may be using computing devices, telepresence systems, handheld devices, smartphones or other communication devices which do not readily or easily expose the participants' reactions. Thus, during a typical telecommunication session, a person may not be able to accurately detect the non-linguistic signals of the other participants. For example, a first participant may be confused, bored, entertained, angry, or the like, but a second participant may have little information or feedback on the actual condition of the first participant. Further, a person may not be entirely aware of the non-linguistic signals that he or she is conveying (or not conveying), and thus, the person may not be communicating as effectively as possible.